Sunday, December 2, 2007

Make no mistake: Babymouse is not a children’s picture book. It’s a graphic novel aimed at children aged six to 12 who -- ironically enough -- don’t have as many graphic novels as you’d think aimed at them.

The latter sentiment is something I try to hammer home in my talks. It's something that is hard to grasp—and I understand why, having lived through the late-80s comic-book backlash, when all of the comic creators who were trying to introduce more mature themes into the overly saccharine comic book realm were chanting over and over, "comic books aren't just for kids." Unfortunately, nowadays it's hard to find a comic book left that is appropriate for kids. So it's good to hear people besides myself saying that.

The former observation—"Babymouse is not a children’s picture book."—comes up more often than you might think. The curse of having a character with a great name like "Babymouse" is that the "Baby-" prefix makes 50% of human beings assume that this is a book for toddlers.